I really appreciate how you draw out loss of trust in ourselves. That resonated deeply. I see how this leads me to seek external validation in unhelpful, performative ways. Enjoying your writing!
Loved the article you wrote, thanks a lot for sharing. I worked as a marketer for big hospitality brands for over a decade and I have to admit that I have become disillusioned (as well as disgusted) by the many tactics deployed by marketers. The industry used to thrive on creativity, especially back in those days when online marketing wasn’t a thing. But these days, marketing tactics seem to revolve a little too much around consumers manipulation. It feels like us consumers are waking up to the reality that we’re not as “protected” as we thought we were.
I'm glad you like it and how right you are about online marketing. It is written during the pandemic, under that effect many of us had then that we were going to come out better, that COVID had exposed our vulnerabilities, and that there was no way things would ever go back to the way we were. Then, came the war in Ukraine, the terrible genocide in Gaza, the re-election of Trump, and the certainty that climate change is here and it is terrifying. In these circumstances, I think my brain cells, if they are to be of any use, have to be in the reinvention of a system in the service of the 99%. And I'm not sure that branding as we understand it now has a place in that new world. It needs urgent reinvention.
I am absolutely 100% with you there. This is the collective consciousness I've been thinking about. The experience you described, I can resonate with to a tee. My husband and I had to close down our restaurant business in London during the London lockdown. We watched the Russian invasion and looked at each other fearing that World war III breakout was closer than we realised. When the global supply chain impacted all of us, I realised how interconnected we really are. When I started seeing actual emotional disconnection from people around me (to return to the 'bubble'), I decided that I wanted to be very vocal about what's going on.
When I watched Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth back when it first came out in 2006, I really thought that the world will have figured something workable and sustainable by now but nope, it's not even on the main agenda right now. I live in Thailand and I can honestly say that our beaches changed a lot. We've lost a lot of beach space over the years. The sand used to be filled with seashells but now, quite rare to see one.
In service of the 99% is such a great way to put it. Simple and to the point. Thank goodness for platform like Substack in time of urgent need to spread the word.
It is appalling to realise that there is no higher intelligence at the helm. The common good is not longer the priority of the powerful. A mad race consuming resources we don't have to who knows where is more important than putting all that effort into trying to mitigate suffering, delivering on commitments (SDGs, Paris Agreement...), end wars, and adapt to a planet we have driven mad. That's why it is so important that we talk about mutual aid and trust between real people, the very thing that neoliberalism has dismantled. I recently discovered “kaquistocracy” the word that describes the government of the worst, this dark triad you speak of.
It makes me so sad what you tell me about the shells on the beach. Unfortunately it's a common experience, to see fish, insects, birds... disappearing. The other day I read that we are living in a chronotopic confusion in which crises, conflicts, tragedies are blurred into an indistinguishable whole. Everything bad is strangely familiar.
But fortunately this is only part of the story. It is comforting to think that there is also what John Paul Lederach calls ‘critical yeast’: “these few improbable and persistent people, who through their quality of relationship create the conditions for new possibility to emerge shifting and transforming generations to come”. And they may be on Substack now :)
The term kakistocracy is so on point (I had to research it a little bit just now). "Ambition without ethics" has won over "competence with integrity". Or well, the perception of it, at least. Thanks for introducing me to this new term.
And I love the meaning behind "critical yeast" being the few persistent people to drive a deeper change. I think it's about time we get fermented.
How have you been approaching the people in your own circle? My family refuses to talk or even look at my writings on the metacrisis. There's an obvious weird vibe in the family that I can't quite place my finger on. Among friends, my husband and I are quite vocal in sharing our stories, both joys and struggles of what we've realised, but the interactions have been 'guarded' to say the least.
I honestly think it boils down to their fears of being critical of the structures we're participating in or part of (aka our family systems). The inter-generational is so real where I'm standing. And my biggest surprise in all of this is actually the refusal to look at things deeper. It seems we are more fearful than we realised. Which is ok to admit that we're scare but the toughest part of it all is dealing with the denial, that seems to be so normalised nowadays.
I find it very challenging too. At family gatherings, it is almost taboo to talk about it. With friends it is impossible, there is an unwritten code that we must all only talk about fun things and whatever is going well in our lives.
Even so, it's beyond my understanding how backward everything is even in countries like mine, which now has a left-wing government. In Spanish there is the word ‘contumaz’ which means to persist in the mistake such as to keep selling as a success ‘being the fastest growing European economy’ (...and also the one with the highest child poverty). Last February 9th, for the first time in history, Switzerland held a referendum on whether the planetary boundaries should be included in their Constitution. 70% voted no arguing that it would have damaged the Swiss economy. I don't know what is wrong with us. The question should have been whether people wanted to prevent an announced collapse, or at least do something about it. My only solace is that at least in that country, which has always been an example of environmental care, 30% voted in favour.
I open the news and my anxiety goes through the roof. The worst bird flu epidemic in history is infecting all the animals in Antarctica and huge plumes of methane, 30 times more harmful than CO2, are being released. A drone has just crashed into the Chernobyl sarcophagus while the emperors of the world are dividing up territories in the purest Mafia style.
In a certain way, it is very human and reminds me of the flowchart in the book ‘I want a better catastrophe’ https://flowchart.bettercatastrophe.com/ we don't want to talk about it and therefore it is very difficult to get down to work, and for the critical yeast to finally rise!.
I really appreciate how you draw out loss of trust in ourselves. That resonated deeply. I see how this leads me to seek external validation in unhelpful, performative ways. Enjoying your writing!
How important it is to talk about the (loss of) trust in these dark times! I wrote this post on trust and brands some time ago which I hope you will find useful. https://www.plazida.com/en/blog/have-we-lost-trust-in-brands
Loved the article you wrote, thanks a lot for sharing. I worked as a marketer for big hospitality brands for over a decade and I have to admit that I have become disillusioned (as well as disgusted) by the many tactics deployed by marketers. The industry used to thrive on creativity, especially back in those days when online marketing wasn’t a thing. But these days, marketing tactics seem to revolve a little too much around consumers manipulation. It feels like us consumers are waking up to the reality that we’re not as “protected” as we thought we were.
I'm glad you like it and how right you are about online marketing. It is written during the pandemic, under that effect many of us had then that we were going to come out better, that COVID had exposed our vulnerabilities, and that there was no way things would ever go back to the way we were. Then, came the war in Ukraine, the terrible genocide in Gaza, the re-election of Trump, and the certainty that climate change is here and it is terrifying. In these circumstances, I think my brain cells, if they are to be of any use, have to be in the reinvention of a system in the service of the 99%. And I'm not sure that branding as we understand it now has a place in that new world. It needs urgent reinvention.
I am absolutely 100% with you there. This is the collective consciousness I've been thinking about. The experience you described, I can resonate with to a tee. My husband and I had to close down our restaurant business in London during the London lockdown. We watched the Russian invasion and looked at each other fearing that World war III breakout was closer than we realised. When the global supply chain impacted all of us, I realised how interconnected we really are. When I started seeing actual emotional disconnection from people around me (to return to the 'bubble'), I decided that I wanted to be very vocal about what's going on.
When I watched Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth back when it first came out in 2006, I really thought that the world will have figured something workable and sustainable by now but nope, it's not even on the main agenda right now. I live in Thailand and I can honestly say that our beaches changed a lot. We've lost a lot of beach space over the years. The sand used to be filled with seashells but now, quite rare to see one.
In service of the 99% is such a great way to put it. Simple and to the point. Thank goodness for platform like Substack in time of urgent need to spread the word.
It is appalling to realise that there is no higher intelligence at the helm. The common good is not longer the priority of the powerful. A mad race consuming resources we don't have to who knows where is more important than putting all that effort into trying to mitigate suffering, delivering on commitments (SDGs, Paris Agreement...), end wars, and adapt to a planet we have driven mad. That's why it is so important that we talk about mutual aid and trust between real people, the very thing that neoliberalism has dismantled. I recently discovered “kaquistocracy” the word that describes the government of the worst, this dark triad you speak of.
It makes me so sad what you tell me about the shells on the beach. Unfortunately it's a common experience, to see fish, insects, birds... disappearing. The other day I read that we are living in a chronotopic confusion in which crises, conflicts, tragedies are blurred into an indistinguishable whole. Everything bad is strangely familiar.
But fortunately this is only part of the story. It is comforting to think that there is also what John Paul Lederach calls ‘critical yeast’: “these few improbable and persistent people, who through their quality of relationship create the conditions for new possibility to emerge shifting and transforming generations to come”. And they may be on Substack now :)
The term kakistocracy is so on point (I had to research it a little bit just now). "Ambition without ethics" has won over "competence with integrity". Or well, the perception of it, at least. Thanks for introducing me to this new term.
And I love the meaning behind "critical yeast" being the few persistent people to drive a deeper change. I think it's about time we get fermented.
How have you been approaching the people in your own circle? My family refuses to talk or even look at my writings on the metacrisis. There's an obvious weird vibe in the family that I can't quite place my finger on. Among friends, my husband and I are quite vocal in sharing our stories, both joys and struggles of what we've realised, but the interactions have been 'guarded' to say the least.
I honestly think it boils down to their fears of being critical of the structures we're participating in or part of (aka our family systems). The inter-generational is so real where I'm standing. And my biggest surprise in all of this is actually the refusal to look at things deeper. It seems we are more fearful than we realised. Which is ok to admit that we're scare but the toughest part of it all is dealing with the denial, that seems to be so normalised nowadays.
I find it very challenging too. At family gatherings, it is almost taboo to talk about it. With friends it is impossible, there is an unwritten code that we must all only talk about fun things and whatever is going well in our lives.
Even so, it's beyond my understanding how backward everything is even in countries like mine, which now has a left-wing government. In Spanish there is the word ‘contumaz’ which means to persist in the mistake such as to keep selling as a success ‘being the fastest growing European economy’ (...and also the one with the highest child poverty). Last February 9th, for the first time in history, Switzerland held a referendum on whether the planetary boundaries should be included in their Constitution. 70% voted no arguing that it would have damaged the Swiss economy. I don't know what is wrong with us. The question should have been whether people wanted to prevent an announced collapse, or at least do something about it. My only solace is that at least in that country, which has always been an example of environmental care, 30% voted in favour.
I open the news and my anxiety goes through the roof. The worst bird flu epidemic in history is infecting all the animals in Antarctica and huge plumes of methane, 30 times more harmful than CO2, are being released. A drone has just crashed into the Chernobyl sarcophagus while the emperors of the world are dividing up territories in the purest Mafia style.
In a certain way, it is very human and reminds me of the flowchart in the book ‘I want a better catastrophe’ https://flowchart.bettercatastrophe.com/ we don't want to talk about it and therefore it is very difficult to get down to work, and for the critical yeast to finally rise!.